Google to Donate $800 Million to COVID-19 Crisis Response Efforts

On Friday, Google announced in a blog post an $800+ million donation for COVID-19 crisis response efforts.

RELATED: 7 BEST GOOGLE APPS AND TOOLS 

A devastating toll

"As the coronavirus outbreak continues to worsen around the world, it’s taking a devastating toll on lives and communities. To help address some of these challenges, today we’re announcing a new $800+ million commitment to support small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), health organizations and governments, and health workers on the frontline of this global pandemic," wrote Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet.

Part of that amount is $250 million in ad grants to help the World Health Organization (WHO) and government agencies and a $200 million investment fund that will support NGOs and financial institutions to provide small businesses with access to capital. Google also revealed it was working with longtime supplier and partner Magid Glove & Safety to provide the CDC with 2-3 million face masks in the coming weeks.

Google Ad credits and Google Cloud credits

Google is also donating money in the form of Google Ad credits and Google Cloud credits. $340 million in Google Ads credits will be made available to all SMBs with active accounts over the past year in order to "help to alleviate some of the cost of staying in touch with their customers."

Meanwhile, $20 million in Google Cloud credits will be allocated to "academic institutions and researchers to leverage our computing capabilities and infrastructure as they study potential therapies and vaccines, track critical data, and identify new ways to combat COVID-19."

Finally, the firm increased the gift match Google offers every employee annually to $10,000 from $7,500. It seems that in these trying times, Google is really stepping up its efforts to help, and that is something that can be appreciated by all.